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Tag Archives: outreach

The Public Engagement Team were thrilled to be a part of the UK’s first ever national festival of the humanities – Being Human Festival! We held a range of events, involving discussion, debate, public lectures, workshops and opportunities for the public to meet researchers.

The festival programme concentrated on activities that make humanities research accessible to the wider community and show the impact the role of humanities has on the cultural, political and social life of the UK.

Most of the festival was held at Korova Arts Café and Bar, in the heart of Preston city centre. Although St Andrews C of E Primary School joined in with the festival fun and visited UCLan’s Moot Court Room for a Live Trial Workshop! The children loved the session; getting fully into character, exploring right and wrongs, getting dressed up and learning interactively.

The week began with Lunchbox Sessions by Theresa Saxon, who delved into Charles Dickens and his relationship with the stage and Yvonne Reddick reading her beautiful poetry, held Tuesday and Wednesday 12.30-13.00. Both these sessions were incredibly presented and interesting!

Yvonne Reddick reading her amazing poetry

Theresa Saxon telling her audience about the side of Dickens many people have not seen

On Thursday evening, Will Kaufman performed the amazing Woodie Gurthie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin’ show, in which he set the songs of Woody Guthrie alive. He sang hard-hitting songs such as ‘Vigilante Man’ and ‘I Ain’t Got No Home’ and fascinated the audience!

The wonderful Will Kaufman

Saturday consisted of Coffee & Conversations sessions, which gave the public chance to talk to our academics about their research topics and their roles at the university. There were also talks held from 11.30am-15.30pm upstairs in the café. Alan Rice gave a fascinating session about the slave trade, exploring true stories of suffering around the world. Robert Poole and Peter Lucas discussed the first views of earth from space, and the philosophical side of seeing Earth from the moon- our place in the Universe. Then came a talk on the temperance movement in Preston by Annemarie McAllister, interactive with temperance songs and incredible images!

Annemarie talking about temperance!

Robert Poole

The festival was a great way of showcasing our academics excellent knowledge and talent! We would just like to take this opportunity to thank Korova and our academics for getting involved.

This year’s theme is Power Up! So we are looking for any interested parties to send us details of their ideas for their showfloor stands.

We have a maximum capacity of 20 stands on the showfloor and so will be judging all entries competitively. We are looking for stands that can really bring science to life, with fun and engaging hands-on activities.

The Lancashire Science Festival will be running from 26th to 28th June 2014; the 26th June being open to Primary Schools, the 27th to High School and Colleges and the 28th being a general public day, so we are looking for stands that will appeal to all ages and abilities.

The ethos behind the Lancashire Science Festival is to inspire people to think more about science and how it affects them and to encourage thought and debate, in a really fun atmosphere. As this year’s theme is Power Up we will be looking for stands that fit into this. Think along the lines of Power Your Brain and Recharge Your Batteries, Up Up and Away, Energy, The Power of Your Body, Engineering and The Power of IT. But don’t let this constrain you, think outside the box!

Please contact jbennionATuclan.ac.uk for an application form and ensure that all entries are returned by 31st January 2014, so that the selection process can begin.